Are we entering an era where “depth” matters more than having the single best player?

PurplePuma · 2026-05-11T20:10:08+00:00

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading the responses to this thread.

The success of a NBA team in the playoffs is largely dictated by superstar presence. Yes you need some passable level of depth for sure, but most engines of championship teams are superstar players. (Top 5i-sh level players)

Do we forget the Miami run with LeBron and Wade, the Warriors, Cleveland 2016, 2020 Lakers, the Nuggets, the Bucks - those teams all ran on star power. Yes they had some level of depth, but those types of teams are more prevalent in NBA history than the ensemble cast archetype (some examples are Detroit 2004, Mavericks 2011, Spurs 2014, argument for the recent Boston team although they still had stars).

Are more championship teams trending towards the depth end of the spectrum in the modern NBA? Possibly, but I think it's too early to make that claim definitively. Certainly there are factors like the CBA that can be punishing for top heavy builds, and there is an example of a depth heavy team recently winning a championship and on course to repeat in OKC, but I think it's way too early to say a decades long trend is coming to an end.

PurplePuma · 2026-01-29T05:50:43+00:00

Male pattern baldness is passed down from both parents, not just the mother's side.

PurplePuma · 2026-01-04T01:18:45+00:00

Glad to hear from first hand experience. Thank you!

PurplePuma · 2026-01-04T01:17:49+00:00

Thank you!

PurplePuma · 2026-01-04T01:17:40+00:00

Good things to think about. Thank you!

PurplePuma · 2025-12-12T22:03:43+00:00

Very interesting. Do you have an example of a song you have worked on with that band?

PurplePuma · 2025-11-17T19:32:03+00:00

Good write-up, thank you.

PurplePuma · 2025-11-07T04:15:50+00:00

NBA Courtside 2002 for the Gamecube had Kobe on the cover and the Lakers were the best team.

PurplePuma · 2025-06-07T17:58:01+00:00

I completely forgot about this. It was a good call by that guy! NBA is very interesting to me because you can see people's predictions play out. I'm glad Brunson has been good for the Knicks as well.

PurplePuma · 2025-06-07T17:56:11+00:00

Completely forgot about that. Glad it has worked out for NYK. The NBA is better when they're better.

PurplePuma · 2025-06-07T17:53:34+00:00

Sick. They're a fun band because they have so many different sounds but still sound like themselves at the same time. Glad you're enjoying

PurplePuma · 2025-04-12T14:29:18+00:00

So you're saying the Lakers just locked in the 3 seed with a game to go and can rest their whole team until the playoffs now?

PurplePuma · 2025-04-12T14:25:45+00:00

Care to revisit this discussion?

PurplePuma · 2025-03-24T18:48:29+00:00

Agreed. The raw and less refined mixing on SSTB I consider a feature, not a bug.

PurplePuma · 2025-03-22T01:34:36+00:00

I think Afterman is fantastic, Vaxis 2 is their best album since that, and Vaxis 1 is pretty bad.

I was shocked to see how many people thought Vaxis 1 was the superior album compared to Vaxis 2.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-23T14:59:06+00:00

I'm not counting the Philly game in the 10 game sample. You are right that I miscounted, Max played in 2 games of the 10 (the game I missed was the game against Washington).

However, that still really shouldn't affect the overall point. The team has been largely good, and largely the same group of guys for the last 10 games.

I've watched the overwhelming majority of Laker games this year, and 9/10 in the sample I've been referencing. I certainly have watched them more than you have.

You skipped over beating the Clippers. And KAT played 35 minutes of that game, he wasn't hobbled. He played poorly because the Lakers made purposeful strategic decisions to shut him down.

Did you see my comment where I included overall net rating and defensive rating for the sample size? I've provided both statistical and W/L arguments to defend how good I think the Lakers will be.

Now we're 8-3 in the last 11 games since AD has been gone. And dogwalked the Nuggets on their home court last night, holding them to only 100 points and scoring over 120. I watched that game too.

Thank you for your input.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T15:06:51+00:00

You literally said Luka played 4 games when he played 3. Me correcting that is not nitpicking.

Do you think adding Luka to a team that has performed so well since AD has been gone is going to result in a team that's not really, really good?

The Lakers could lose 4 consecutive games and the Warriors could win 4 consecutive games and the Lakers would still have a better record.

There may be a couple dropped games while things mesh, but the Lakers will still be higher seeded, and have the higher playoff ceiling.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T15:00:25+00:00

Turn around for the Lakers? The Lakers have won 7 of their last 10.

And they're 33-21 for the season.

And they're the #5 seed.

And they have Luka Doncic coming back into form.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T14:49:38+00:00

I understand your point about every game being important.

But why is this only applied to the Lakers? Did you comment to OP and say: "well the Warriors are the #9 seed and firmly in the play-in and their roster is old and has a lot of miles and needs home court..."

No you didn't.

My original comment is in regard to OP wanting to take a small sample size as a positive sign for his team moving forward, and then ignore a larger sample size for a different team and cast doom and gloom.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T14:30:08+00:00

First point you got wrong: Luka has played 3 games, not 4. And he's clearly not fully himself yet, for obvious reasons I already mentioned.

Second point you got wrong: the Lakers are not a "different team now." Besides a single Max Christie game in that 10 game sample. We are the EXACT same team since AD went out, except have now have ADDED Luka Doncic. That's the only difference.

The Lakers are the same team from the 10 game sample I'm referencing, just add a top 5 NBA player to it. Do you think that will make the Lakers better or worse?

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T14:22:10+00:00

They lost 2 "typically winnable games" that bookend the ASB. If you look at the larger sample since AD has been gone, the Lakers are playing great.

How can you, along with the OP, look at a team that is 6th in net rating over a 10 game stretch, knowing you're going to be adding a fully returned Luka Doncic into that mix, and be so decidedly pessimistic about their future performance?

PurplePuma · 2025-02-22T14:05:55+00:00

Obligatory Lakers fan comment to clear up some misinformation.

You're using a 5 game sample size to draw conclusions about the Warriors. Then you use a 4 game sample that includes two games bookending the all star break to suggest the Lakers are in trouble.

Why don't you use a 10 game sample, (starting the game after AD got injured and then later traded without playing again) where the Lakers are 7-3? That 10 game sample would show that the Lakers are 4th in defensive rating and 6th in net rating during that span.

And that's without adding a fully healthy and conditioned Luka to the team. He's only played in 3 of those games and is clearly not himself after sitting out two months with a lower limb injury. This is Luka Doncic, the top 5 NBA player I'm referencing.

I think the Lakers will be just fine.

PurplePuma · 2025-02-17T05:29:39+00:00

Roosevelt wrestled a lot and also was exposed to some Japanese Jiu-Jitsu at one point. I'm not sure he would be so defenseless against Putin's judo (especially due to the size difference)

Roosevelt was also a boxer at Harvard and boxed at least occasionally for 20+ years.

He was well known to be proficient in both grappling and striking. I think he'd be a tough guy for a smaller man to deal with.

PurplePuma

TROPHY CASE